Tuesday, February 18, 2014

When
I saluted Nigeria on the
occasion of her 53rd Independence
celebrations last October, I was not too sure that my greeting rang out with joy
and optimism. I, however, feel that an occasion like that, largely received with
mixed feelings across the country, presents a wonderful opportunity to deeply
reflect on Nigeria
and share my very frank feelings about it.

*Mrs. Ejinkeonye

I
have been around for close to half a century now. From the experiences that
came with those years, my environment and the many occurrences we have
witnessed in my beloved country, I find it difficult to agree with the
dictionary definition of the word INDEPENDENCE as freedom from political control by other countries or as the freedom to organize one’s life, make one’s
own decisions and plans without the interference of other people. Truly
speaking, it would appear I even became more confused about the word when a
couple of months ago when I was reminded that Nigeria had attained 53years as an
independent country. As I tried to make calls, I heard a recorded voice scream
melodiously into my ears: ‘God Bless Nigeria!’
Now, I am forced to wonder: how would a man feel, if after 53 solid years,he sits down to take a stock of his life, and
all he discovers are that his woes far exceed his joys, his disappointments
overwhelm his achievements and his failures swallow his modestsuccess? Certainly, he would immediately
become miserable; in fact, his misery would be worse than that of a captive. Now,
at 53, how free is Nigeria?Think about it.

I
am not here to merely enumerate and analyze the woes, disappointments,
failures, or even seeming joys, assumed peace and what have you, which our
‘FREE’ nation boasts itself of. (Well, so much of that flood our newspapers
daily.) I only wish to call our attention to a particular group of people which
this self-styled giant of Africa, NIGERIA, has been most unfair to.

I
discovered that on Saturday, 12 October 2013, at about 3:30am, I was just rolling
on my bed. Soon, these words were dropped on my heart: ‘The Child, The Youth and the Country, Nigeria.’As I struggled with this, every bit of sleep departed
from my eyes, forcing me to stand up to write down this burden of my heart,
which I am quite sure, is also the burden of many well meaning Nigerians.

Thursday, February 6, 2014

The recent statement
by the General Superintendent of the Deeper Christian Life Ministry, Pastor
W.F. Kumuyi, that Christmas is idolatrous has attracted widespread reactions. Pastor
Kumuyi was quoted in the Punch newspaper
of December 13, 2013, as saying:

*Pastor Kumuyi

“We don’t celebrate
Christmas. It actually came from idolatrous background. That is why you don’t
hear us sing what they call Christmas carol. Never! ... When you find anybody
coming in, or any leader, trying to introduce the idolatry of mystery Babylon
that they call Christmas, and you want to bring all the Christmas carol saying
that is the day that Jesus was born, and you don’t find that in the Acts of the
Apostles or in the early church, then you don’t find that in the church
either. If you don’t know that before, now you know.”

These are indeed
weighty, unsettling words on a widely cherished festival. The reactions they
immediately stirred were, therefore, to be expected. However, it was a very
courageous assertion by Pastor Kumuyi and I would love to pitch my tent with
those who insist that he is right, and that those attacking him are either
doing so out of sheer lack of adequate information on the matter or, worse,
unwittingly betraying their reluctance to let go of a cherished idol.

Now,
despite the din, pomp and fanfare that usually mark this annual December 25
ceremony called Christmas, I have for many years now excused myself from
everything that has to do with it. In my household it is just like any other
day. And the reason is quite simple: I do not believe that December 25 is the
birthday of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. In fact, what my research has
shown is that, just like Easter before it, Christmas is rooted in hideous
idolatrous observances and, in fact, predates the coming of Christ to this
world in human form.

One of the vehement
opposers of Pastor Kumuyi’s statement (as contained in the same Punch report)
is the Director of Social Communications, Catholic Archdiocese of Lagos,
Monsignor Gabriel Osu.

Hear him: “I don’t
know what he means by saying the practice of celebrating Christmas is wrong. Is
he saying that Christ wasn’t born? That he didn’t come to die for us? Does he
not celebrate his own birthday …The celebration of Christmas didn’t just start
today; it is too public an event for anyone to say that they don’t know what it
is about… Christ came to redeem us from our lost state; this was actualised
through his coming, his birth; that is why we celebrate Christmas… Kumuyi is
just saying what he feels; he is not making any doctrinal statement.”

Quite a passionate
reply, one would say. However, as a Roman Catholic cleric, Monsignor Osu may
wish to look at the 1911 edition of the Catholic
Encyclopaedia which states that “Christmas was not among the
earliest festivals of the church … the first evidence of the feast is fromEgypt.”

Also, even before the New Testament Church was fully formed,Easterwas mentioned in the Bible as feast already in
existence, showing that it was not ordained by the Apostles of Jesus Christ to
mark His death and resurrection (Acts 12: 4).

No doubt, what we
today know as Christmas is one of the prominent, irremediably polluted children
that emerged from the very ungodly marriage between a distorted and depreciated
form of Christianity and (Roman) paganism which crept into the Church many
years after the death of the Apostles of Christ and the genuine Christians that
took over from them. Although the pagan worship of the SUN god had gained prominence in several parts of the world long before the birth of Christ, and had permeated and gained wide acceptance in imperial Rome, it was Emperor Constantine’s Edict in 321 AD which ordered the unification of the mostly apostate Christians and the pagans of that period in the clearly abominable observance of the “the venerable day of the Sun” that increased the influence of Christmas celebration in the Roman church. What has, however, become clear, judging from historical accounts, is that Emperor Constantine may not have truly become a Christian.